Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Blue Dahlia by Vivian Winslow

Blue Dahlia is the first book in the second trilogy of Vivian Winslow's Gilded Flower series, featuring Lily Baron's free-spirited twin sister, Dahlia.

New York socialite Dahlia Baron is falling for her Latin lover, Rodrigo Cruz, the scion of the Mama Linda Latin foods empire, and hopes to take the relationship to the next level. But there's is a dark secret that she must deal with first in order to truly give her heart to him. When Dahlia visits the man from her past, will the undercurrents of her emotions let her go to Rodrigo or will they pull her back to the one person who stands between them?

Mature readers only. 18+

Danielle's Review

Vivian Winslow’s “Blue Dahlia” is a wonderfully sexy short
story. We finally get to know Dahlia’s story. Surprisingly, she seems like
someone you can empathize with now. After reading Lily’s stories, I didn’t know
if I’d like Dahlia’s story, but I totally did. Very Sweet Home Alabama.
Lots of extremely hot nookie, although once or twice some of the terms for the
naughty parts was a bit much…slick love box? Really? 4 out of 5

Dahlia stares vacantly at the painting in front of her. A Woman in the Sun—one of her personal favorites by Edward Hopper. She remembers taking a private tour of the Whitney Museum with her mother and sister Lily when she was six years old, and falling in love with his works. Something about the subject’s gaze filled her with a sense of curiosity. A desire to know the world through the artist’s eyes. That day, she picked up a sketchpad and didn’t put it down . . . until seven years ago.

Rodrigo runs his fingers down her cheek and gently lifts her chin to draw her gaze to him.

“Is it what your mom said?”

Dahlia shrugs.

“We don’t need your mother’s blessing. I thought it would be nice for her to get to know me, but in the end what she thinks doesn’t matter, does it?”

Dahlia shakes her head and smiles at Rodrigo. Any other man would’ve been intimidated by her mother or run off by her comments about Dahlia’s commitment issues. Ironic since it was her mother who brought them out in her. Besides, since meeting Rodrigo that day on Miami Beach, she knew in her heart he was the one for her. She firmly believed he was her second chance at love.

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Dahlia says emphatically. She reaches up and caresses Rodrigo’s stubble that inevitably grows in every afternoon. Her heart skips a beat as she gazes into his dark eyes, and her desire begins to pool in her core. She stopped looking for her mother’s approval a long time ago. No reason why she should care now.

Vivian Winslow was born and raised in Southern California. Before becoming a writer, she made a career out of moving around the world every couple of years thanks to her husband’s job. She currently lives in New York City with her husband and two elementary school age children, and is grateful to finally have a place to call home for more than two years. New York is the perfect city to indulge her love of shopping, the arts and especially food.

If she’s not at home writing or running around the city with her kids, you’ll most likely find her indulging in pizza on the Lower East Side or having a cocktail at her favorite bar in Alphabet City. That said, she’s still a California girl at heart and would gladly trade in her heels for a pair of flip-flops to catch a sunset on the beach.
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